Chief Justice blasts ‘lazy’ lawyers

CHIEF Justice, Luke Malaba has blasted lazy lawyers, who rush to court without carrying out research on cases they will be defending.

BY OWN CORRESPONDENT

Addressing delegates at the just-ended Law Society of Zimbabwe conference in Victoria Falls on Saturday, Malaba said he had observed that some lawyers presented themselves in court as “uninterested observers”.

“The basic standards and the fundamental values are that we should be determined and committed to providing efficient delivery of justice and there must be no compromise on that, as that will tell us where we are going as a country jurisprudentially,” he said.

“Why can’t you enjoy being a lawyer and why do you take it so casually, yet you’re holding onto something that is affecting every facet of the lives of people and yet we seem to just throw everything aside and act as if you’re are layman?

“We now have lawyers, who come to court and present themselves as disinterested observers in body and in mind in their own cases, yet you have been hired to represent someone on a life issue.”

Malaba said lawyers needed to locate themselves and internalise fundamental values of honesty, hard work and diligence.

“We now have research engines, but frankly, I do not see that, yet that’s what motivates a case. We must have lawyers, who are very sharp to identify grey areas in a case and those are the ones that make jurisprudential developments,” he said.

“From today on, we are waiting for lawyers, who will bring well-researched, focused and balanced arguments on novel grey area cases. Where we make breaking ground and we talk of landmark judgments.

“I want a lawyer, who will tell me the ugly side of his client and it is that side that makes me see a point and that maybe a deciding factor, as you have provided me with means that will make us have developed jurisdiction that will match the international standards.”